Day 605

Sunday is always a good day for reflection. With the news so compacted and so much going on it can only be a brief look back, in most cases. Long gone are the days when Prime Minister Gladstone went to the sea for five or six months to think.

I keep asking myself a basic question, “What’s the point?”

What’s the point of Mitch McConnell jamming legislation or court nominees through?

What’s the point of the Republicans not working with others to try and solve problems?

I do not see McConnell as a principled man. I mean if I ask myself, “What does Mitch McConnell stand for?” I have no idea. Yes, he seems to know how to manipulate the rules of the Senate to get stuff through, or to stop other things, but to what end?

They both seem to do or say whatever to get by, and are in turn manipulated by the likes of the Koch brothers or the Christian right, or big business; all of which have their particular agenda they want to foster. But these agendas are by and large attempts to squeeze some unpopular thing through the government. In two of the cases it’s so “they” can make more money, in the other it’s because “they believe.”

The coming election is being defined on the right as “trust me, you don’t want socialism.”

Let me ask – What do you want?

I think back to the two Roosevelt presidencies. Both were trying to solve problems, both in different ways.

What problems are the current crop of Republicans trying to solve?

Both Roosevelts had a sense of this country and duty toward it for the betterment of the general population.

What sense of duty, honor, whatever do the current crop of Republican leaders have?

I see Mitch enriching himself, but I have no idea what he believes in, other than staying in power, but to what end? For what purpose?

George H. W. Bush was described by one historian as being a nice guy with a good resume, but when he got into the office of the Presidency he really had no idea what he wanted to do.

I don’t see any of the Republicans as having that sense “of the greater good”, of being more than just about themselves.

George Bush, nice guy, was not above running some of the most despicable racist ads I’ve ever seen. When push came to shove, he went with Roger Ailes.

I’m hearing this drumbeat from my friends on the right that “we don’t want socialism. It never works. Trust me.” Then they mention names like Warren, Sanders, and Cortez.

But when you look at what those three are advocating. Warren wants to stop the excesses and theft on Wall Street. Sanders wants affordable health care, as does Cortez. Cortez who also wants to stop spending on military things that the military doesn’t want. All three want to make education affordable and lift the burden of student debt.

Remember when John Boehner was Speaker of the House and he passed legislation that wouldn’t let students renegotiate their debt? Why? Because he couldn’t balance the budget any other way.

The military has put programs in every Congressional district. It’s a spoils system. The problem now is, it’s hard to stop a program when the military doesn’t want it. So we end up building tanks and putting them in the desert.

Warren thinks cheating customers is a thing that shouldn’t be allowed. The Republican scream socialism.

So what are you for?

Are you for the continued funding of military projects the military doesn’t want?

Are you for banks legally being allowed to rip you off?

What about other financial institutions, should they be allowed to cheat you?

Should we continue to not allow the VA, Medicare, Medicaid, and states to not negotiate drug prices directly with drug companies, thus keeping drug prices artificially high?

Should students not be allowed to renegotiate their student debt?

If your answer to any of these is “yes” then you should definitely vote Republican, because that is what they are for. Aside, from stealing as much money as they can for themselves.

Maybe on an upcoming screed I’ll look at upholding the Constitution and the rule of law.

Those are two other things the Republicans seem to not be interested in doing.